Saturday Fun

Dear Friends and Family,

I had the pleasure of having Laurie's three girls with me for most of today (Saturday). Shaunna and her four came over around 1:00 p.m.; Mom was here and all ten of us drove over to a nearby park to play and take advantage of this beautiful weather, especially after hearing that it was supposed to leave us for at least four days. There is a big sandbox at the park so we gathered up my sandbox toys, four balls and some bottles of water. It was wonderful watching those precious seven kids running, laughing and playing. Madilyn overcame her fear of climbing way up to the very top of the playground equipment and sliding down the BIG winding slide. Krisalyn ran and ran and ran, fell flat on her belly about four times and never cried, she just jumped back to her feet and kept on going. Joshua and Noah played some baseball together and then they all played hide and go seek. Once, Joshua hid in a bit of a visible place, hoping that because nobody had hidden there before that Noah (who was "it") wouldn't look in that direction, but, Krisalyn saw Joshua and had to walk up to where he was hiding and squat down and stare at him, leading Noah right to Joshua. Shaunna and I were laughing so hard. Breaunna found three lady bugs that she wanted to keep, but, we convinced her to hold them freely in her hand and let them fly away if they wanted to. I truly believe that she is going to be a Vet. or have some sort of career that involves animals and bugs. Caitlyn and Gabriella were involved in all the fun and were as tired and dirty as the rest of us when we left. Shaunna got some flash cards out of her car that she has made for Caitlyn because Caitlyn is SO wanting to read and write; I was amazed at how well she is reading! Caitlyn turned 5 on Nov. 20 and is Pre-K. I told Shaunna that she herself was the same way in her desire to learn. Laurie has made some flash cards for Breaunna too, because Breaunna has a written spelling test in Kindergarten each Friday. Breaunna spent as much time as I allowed her to, on the computer today playing games, she was reading on the games and I was impressed with her new abilities too.

I'm attaching a picture that Breaunna drew for me today of Santa (he sort of looks like a duck in a red suit) and I think a reindeer; I don't know what the black things are at the top of the picture. She loves to draw pictures. She and I enjoyed several games of tick-tack- toe, and the cat won most of the games; she thought it was so funny when I told her that if neither of us won, then the "cat" won! We played several rounds of Cranium Hullabaloo and that was so much fun, except Krisalyn keep on stealing the floor play pads and running off with them. Breaunna likes to cheat and always land on the winner play pad at the end of the game, I like watching her win and Gabriella thinks she also wins each time, because she just reacts however Breaunna is! Breaunna got out the Monopoly game and I wouldn't play with her, she sat and played the game alone and loved it. She had played the game with Joshua, Noah, & Caitlyn on Thanksgiving. Now, I have a Monopoly Jr. game but, the boys only wanted the more advanced game and so now, the girls think that is the only one to play!

Mom was walking around with her cane and I saw her falling, I screamed to Shaunna and she and I went running to Mom, a man that had been sitting about 100 yards from us, came over and helped us get Mom up off of the ground, without his help I don't know if we could have got her up. There were a lot of big live oak acorns on the ground that caused her to fall and roll. Her rear end is sore where she hit a bit of the concrete wall! After we got home she sat on an ice pack. Shaunna and I had been very careful with Mom and walked with her until she needed to walk around and we were so busy with the kids. About 5 minutes after Mom fell, Noah was chasing Breaunna around one of the oak trees and the acorns caused Breaunna to also fall. We didn't have a camera with us at the park!!!

When we arrived back to my house, Shaunna stayed in the front yard with her four and Breaunna and all of them began to rake leaves...so that the kids could jump in them and play! LOL. They did end up putting them in trash bags, eventually. We didn't have THAT MANY rakes, so Shaunna gave them brooms and anything else she could find so that all could participate. Eventually Mom, Gabriella, Krisalyn and I made our way back outside to join (or watch) the fun. Joe had come home by now, and Shaunna got the camera from him, so we finally got some pictures.

Instead of having all the kids come in the house for drinks and snacks, I encouraged them all to get in the back of Joe's pickup truck and I brought them drinks and snacks; Joe had to sweep out the back of his truck when the kids were finished.

Krisalyn was extremely talkative today and Joe enjoyed some fun time with her too. All of the kids behaved so well and were such a pleasure. Noah jumped out of the back of Joe's truck and right into the street (which is very busy, fortunately there were no vehicles passing by at that exact moment), Shaunna and I both screamed with terror and Noah had to come sit in time out for a while and he was still upset with us when it came time for a group photo of the great grandchildren with Momma. Praise the Lord he was safe. We live on a BUSY street where the speed limit is 30 mph and many people drive faster than that! We usually line all the cars, trucks and vans up along the curb to stop rolling balls and running children and sort of give them a barrier from the street, but today we had not done that and since we had the driveway full when Joe arrived home, he parked his truck in the street! It makes me want to put up a 10 feet tall fence around my front yard!

James arrived about 5:45 to get the girls, Gabriella had not taken a nap today and Krisalyn had waited until 5:00 to fall into a deep sleep. Joe and I enjoyed the kids so much, but, we were very tired when they left. Joe had ran over 18 miles today; he will be running in the White Rock Marathon tomorrow after church, he is coaching a group of runners in this race and will be there to run them in and encourage those that are having a difficult time.

Allison and Sarah, Thank you both for your love of our family and your love and dedication to teaching our precious grandchildren in Sunday School and Children's Church! We appreciate you both so much and you are both doing a great job. Be assured that the children are listening to you and learning. Kelly C., Joshua is learning from you too; thank you.

Laurie is working A LOT during one of the busiest times of the year for the photography studios. Please continue to keep her and baby Elijah in your prayers, she is almost to her 32nd week.

Below is Shaunna's most recent update (today) on her blog. She is sending Noah's Christmas Poem, which was a school assignment; and he won the award for "Author of the Week" in class. He has recently written another story for school that was about his Granddad (again) and what he (Joe) accomplishes for Leukemia; I will encourage Shaunna to post the story.

Susan and Wendy, thank you both for writing and sending the adorable picture of Luke, the fairy God-father. Thank you also to my other friends that are faithful to spend a few minutes each week keeping in touch with me. I love and appreciate you ALL.